Sickness disciplinary advice please

[smc4761]

Hi guys looking for some advice.

 

My wife has works for a large UK supermarket and has worked there for 26 years. She was off for a day last week, with a sickness bug. She received a letter yesterday inviting her to attend a "disciplinary meeting" to discuss her absence as she has been off 3 times in the past 9 months. On one of these occasions she was admitted to hospital for 3 days

 

My understanding is that the meeting should only be an informal meeting to establish the facts and if appropriate then arrange a disciplinary meeting

 

She is taking along a colleague to the meeting , but should this be a "disciplinary meeting". When she has been off from work she has advised her work before her shift and has received the relevant return to work interviews

[SabreSheep]

Hi there

 

First off, well done for taking a colleague. In future I would recommend joining a union who can sometimes be more helpful.

 

Secondly, make sure the notes are accurate. She must make sure they capture the major points.

 

Make sure she understands the sickness procedure and that they have calculated trigger points correctly etc.

 

Sadly, the major supermarkets separate the illness from the absence. If she is disciplined, it will not be for the sickness, it will be for not fulfilling her contract.

 

Maybe she should check to see if any of her illnesses are covered by "Mitigating Circumstances"

 

Are the sickness periods linked?

 

One Large Supermarket has Attendance review and investigation meetings, where they roll the disciplinary into once. Effectively they close the investigatory and WITH permission from the employee open the disciplinary

 

Personally I would not fret too much at this stage. Yes they can do a disciplinary. BUT remember the outcomes could be next steps to improve attendance. And if there are no live warnings for sickness on file I would imagine the worst outcome would be a verbal/written warning.

[Emmzzi]

I'd expect a bit of a chat and t be told there'll be a monitoring period, no more than that.

[123ab]

Make sure she brings evidence with her of her being at hospital.